COMMENTATOR DISCARDS BOTAFOGO AS FLAMENGO'S BIGGEST RIVAL AND SAYS AN 'OLD'

Matheus Sávio joined Flamengo 's professional squad in 2015, while still linked to the under-20 team. After an outstanding stint in the youth team and participation in the 2016 Copinha title, he was permanently integrated into the main group that same year. His career, however, did not have a solid sequence. Sávio alternated between occasional opportunities and loan spells. In an exclusive interview with the newspaper Lance!, the player acknowledged that he lacked maturity during that period.

URAWA REDS ON THEIR WAY

— Today, with the mindset I have today, the professionalism I have today, maybe I was a little immature when I started — said the midfielder, currently at Urawa Reds. In 2017, he had his most active season at Flamengo. He played 18 matches and scored three goals. Despite the modest number, he was seen as a useful player in the squad, especially in Campeonato Carioca games.

The following year was marked by another loan. This time, the destination was Estoril , in Portugal. The experience in Europe was short-lived: six games and one goal scored before returning to Ninho do Urubu. Back in Brazil, the midfielder had few opportunities at Flamengo in 2018 — just five matches — and ended up being loaned to CSA. At the club from Alagoas, he rediscovered his good football, scored four goals in 26 games and was state champion.

FLAMENGO OPENS ITS DOORS

His performance at CSA opened doors to the international market. In 2019, Matheus was loaned out again, this time to Kashiwa Reysol in Japan. On Asian soil, he played 20 games and was directly involved in ten goals. His performance attracted attention and the Japanese club bought his economic rights outright. Since then, he has built a solid career in Japanese football, with a notable stint at Kashiwa and, currently, at Urawa Reds.

At 28 years old, Matheus Sávio is preparing to play for the Japanese team in the Club World Cup. The tournament, which will be held in Saudi Arabia at the end of 2025, will once again put the midfielder in the spotlight. The player avoids any hard feelings with Flamengo, but he does not hide the fact that he would have liked to have performed better for the red-and-black team. For him, his personal circumstances and the stage of his career were important factors.

Flamengo returns to the field this Saturday (10), at 9 pm (Brasília time), to face Bahia at Maracanã, for the 8th round of the Brazilian Championship. After the 2-1 defeat to Cruzeiro away from home, the team led by Filipe Luis tries to get back to winning ways and stay among the top of the table.

REUNION WITH AN OLD FRIEND

On the other side, Rogério Ceni's Bahia arrives buoyed by the 1-0 victory over Botafogo, in Salvador, and with a special ingredient: the reunion with Everton Ribeiro, former captain of the red-black team, who commands the tricolor midfield and returns to Maracanã in a respectful atmosphere, but with the focus on the three points.

RECENT OVERVIEW

The last clash between the teams took place at Fonte Nova, still in this Brasileirão. On that occasion, Flamengo won 2-0 with goals from Ayrton Lucas and Carlos Alcaraz, the latter of whom has already been sold. The match marked the beginning of a new cycle under the command of Filipe Luís, then interim, before Filipe's permanent arrival.

To avoid surprises, Flamengo needs to keep an eye on at least five names that have been standing out on the Bahia side. Starting with midfielder Erick, who despite playing more defensively, is the team's top scorer this season with seven goals. Another name that draws attention is forward Luciano Rodríguez, responsible for six goals in 2025 and considered one of Bahia's big bets. The Uruguayan is the team's second-highest scorer and one of Ceni's offensive references.

On the left side, the versatile Luciano Juba has been making a difference. Despite being a striker by origin, he has been playing as a full-back and is leading Bahia in offensive participations in the Brasileirão. According to the SofaScore app, he has an average rating of 7.50 and has scored one goal and provided three assists in Série A. Another youngster who has made a good impression is Erick Pulga , another striker for the team from the northeast. With one goal, one assist and an average rating of 7.33, he is one of the pleasant surprises at the start of the championship and could appear as an option for Ceni, either as a starter or in the second half.

Flamengo maintains its dominance off the field and also shows strength on social media. According to the most recent survey by Ibope Repucom, the Rio de Janeiro club ended April with 62,554,061 followers, consolidating its position at the top of the Brazilian league. The advantage is significant. Corinthians, in second place in the ranking, has 41,087,588 followers, a difference of more than 21 million. Santos, boosted by Neymar's image, appears in third with 24,175,005.

The club's growth in the last month was remarkable: 334 thousand new followers across all platforms. Most of this growth came from Instagram, with 159 thousand new subscribers, which represents 47% of the total increase. The list includes the 20 clubs with the most followers, including 17 from Serie A and 3 from Serie B. Among the top clubs in the elite, Palmeiras (23.4M) and São Paulo (22.8M) complete the top 5. See the full ranking:

1. Flamengo — 62.5 million

2. Corinthians — 41.1 million

3. Santos — 24.1 million

4. Palmeiras — 23.4 million

5. Sao Paulo — 22.8 million

In addition to Instagram, TikTok and YouTube also showed positive performance: there were 100 thousand and 60 thousand new followers, respectively, according to the Ibope Repucom report. Interestingly, digital performance follows the team's form on the field. In April, Flamengo played eight matches and obtained five wins, two draws and only one loss, numbers that help explain the growing engagement of the fans .

Among the networks, Instagram is the main pillar of Flamengo 's digital presence. The platform already has 21.8 million followers, making it the channel with the largest audience among Flamengo fans. Facebook is the second most influential network, with 13 million followers. Next, X/Twitter appears with 11 million.

TikTok, with 9.3 million, and YouTube, with 7.3 million, round out the list of official networks analyzed. The number shows that the club has strong penetration on platforms with varied audience profiles. The growth on TikTok and YouTube reinforces the club's adaptation to content consumption trends. The short videos and behind-the-scenes footage have been a hit with fans.